I'm reading through Proverbs again, one chapter a day for each day of the month. No matter how many times you read Proverbs, new bits of wisdom surface every time you come to it again.
I'm in chapter 13 today, and am feeling encouraged and overwhelmed by how much this chapter reflects the hard things that must be done...in my life, but also in the lives of my children.
A wise son accepts his father's discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke...
The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; the one who opens his lips come ruin...
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied...
Through insolence comes nothing but strife, but wisdom is with those who receive counsel...
The one who despises the word will be in debt to it, but the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded...
In everything , the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly...
He who walks with the wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm...
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous...
He who witholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently...
There is a theme here, that can be summarized by another verse, Hebrews 12:11...
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Do the hards things...of walking with the wise, of diligence, of teachableness, of self-control, of training and disciplining our children. Learn to love what must be done.
The path of least resistance will not lead you down this Proverb...or any other for that matter. But, wisdom is what I long for. Not to be wise and puffed up, but to be flattened by the infinitely unobtainable wisdom of God, and then to be raised back up in righteousness-- in words, actions, and thoughts-- on account of Christ IN me. The hard things are not burdensome when it is the all-wise who is prescribing them, and producing them within us.
Because of grace,
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